


AKs and Roses

by noctyfish3



Category: Original Work
Genre: Child Death, Gen, Graphic Description, Hate Crimes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:06:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23088268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noctyfish3/pseuds/noctyfish3
Summary: Abraham Jacob King, also known as AK, is a 12 year old dread headed black boy from the ghettos of Oakland, California in the year 1991. The story begins on the second week of middle school when Abraham wakes up late and chases down the bus to sit with best friend Daquan and friends Tyrael and Daronte. On the bus for the first time he catches the eye of Rosa Josephine Maria Rodriguez. This short-story is honestly just a journey of political awareness for the two, as they observe problems of their communities and start to speak up through public speaking and poetry slams. Topics of drug use, hate crimes, abuse, murder, suicide, and death.
Relationships: Abraham King/Rosa Rodriguez





	1. Roses

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I wrote this story as a freshmen in high school. I'm still in high school so I obviously don't know how the 90's were like, lol. I've lived in NC my whole life so I don't know how California's like either. All the details of this story are not accurate, it's a fictional story and I had a lot of fun exploring its world.

Empty bullets and dull thorns lay submerged in fertile soil and white flowers. And they were everywhere: big, small, tiny, giant. They seemed to lay with no use and with no more ability to cause pain, countering their prior sharp peril. And now they served a greater purpose. They were there to keep the soil fertile and the flowers and grass growing. Abraham walked through the peaceful flowered field, walked through his dream. He laid down on his back and looked to the sky. A thousand eyes staring back.

“ Get yo dumb tail up!”

“ Huh? Wha…” Abraham mumbled as he woke with slobber on his face, drowsiness heavy. He was on his bed with a big wool blanket on him. He felt the cold on his exposed face and under the blanket was warm and cozy. He closed his eyes again.

“ Boy, if you don’t get up you gon’ be late.” Abraham groaned and covered his head and his blanket was yanked off him, fall’s chill piercing his warm body. “ Hey!” he snapped at his sister, half sister, who was to the side of his bed wearing an annoyed expression. He could see in the faint dawnlight her golden septum piercing and her ear piercings. Her dreads were wrapped in a black durag and she was wearing nothing but a sports bra and shorts.

“ Shut up and getcho self outta bed. Don’t you know the time?”  
Abraham’s drowsiness flew off like a wave and was replaced by anxiety that made his stomach churn. He turned to the left of his bed. 7:40 am.

“ Dang it!” Abraham jumped up from his bed in boxers and a tank top and ran into the washroom. He looked at himself in the mirror. His dreads were still looking ok from last week’s going to the barber for the first day of middle school. His dark, melanin skin was oily and dirty, and when he sniffed at himself he yakked.  
After a quick upper body wash up and brushing his teeth, he ran out through the hallway, past the living room, through the narrow kitchen to the back door and when he opened it the bulldog squeezed in.

“ Ajake!” he hollered, but the small dog ran to the couch where Tykera was lying. “ AK, the dog don’t go-” Abraham cut her short by shutting the door. He climbed and jumped the deck and ran out to the clothesline shirtless in the cold to grab a pair of pants, putting on his pants as he went back up the deck. When he opened the door, the brindle and white dog ran out and Tykera was at the sink of dishes washing her hands. He opened the refrigerator and nibbled at some cold leftovers.

“ You’re gonna be late,” Tykera warned in singsong. “ So get your shirt on already, food goes last.”

“ Like you can talk!” he said as he moved the contents of the refrigerator around to grab a bottle of lemonade labeled “AK”. “ Girl, get a shirt on. Why yo chest out?”  
As he ran out the kitchen to his room, he heard amusement in her voice. “ Shush and catch the bus. Your CD player on the couch.”  
In his room, he puts on a white t-shirt and a new black collared sleeve button up that his mom’s friend gave and brand new Timberlands that his mom gave. He would look in the mirror to see how handsome he must look today, but he heard the low growl of the bus in the neighborhood. He put on his backpack and ran out to the living room to grab his CD player. He opened the door and saw the bus rolling past, ready to burst into the cold air in a sprint.

“ Wait!” Tykera yelled before he closed the door.

“ What?” he looked wide eyed at her and she pointed to the table beside the door. He looked on the table and there was his glasses case.

Jesus.

He grabbed the case and ran outside. He knew if his mom came back home to see those glasses right where she left them last night, he would get a whooping. Your education is too important, she would say, that grades shouldn’t be crashing down because you can’t see the chalkboard. So as he ran past the metal fence, he opened the mailbox and put his case in, slammed it closed, and raced for his bus. He was gaining on it as it cruised through the rest of the neighborhood of small houses. He shouted for it to stop and through the black window of the back of the bus, he could see his three friends laughing and watching him: Daquan Badie his best friend, Tyrael Moore, and Daronte Evans. All black boys of his same age.  
He smiled as he ran now and when he was about three yards away, the bus turned without stopping at the stop sign. He groaned as he kept pursuing the cruising bus on the open road. Finally, the bus stopped in front of a few cars and Abraham jogged up to the bus.

The bus driver was an old, blind-ish, and little naive black lady with gray hair and glasses. To Abraham and his friends she seemed clearly unqualified to drive a bus or drive at all. But of course he was still polite to the old lady.

“ Oh bless your heart boy. I didn’t see you.” she claimed in her shaky voice.

“ No it’s okay.” he insisted with a smile. “ I was late.” he walked past her and the other children. The reserved and smart ones in the front, the normal ones, and then the super noisy ones in the back with his friends.

There was Daquan. He was the only black Muslim Abraham knew, besides his twin sister and their family. They’d been friends since preschool because their mothers were great friends. He kept to himself and was the smartest out of all of them, the one that attracted more of the girls. Some of the girls even called him “ Baddy” to play with his last name and flirt.

Then there was Tyrael who was the tallest of them by the smallest inch. 5 foot 6 almost. He had light skin with yellow hues like Suge Knight and a big gap between his front teeth. He always was rocking the latest hip hop trends, the latest shoes and that was possibly due to his brother who dabbled in gang relations. The boys didn't care. They respected that. He was also dating Daquan’s twin, D’aja, who was also Abraham’s ex. Daquan wasn't very fond of Tyrael.

Daronte was a troublemaker. He liked to excuse himself saying he rose from Long Beach. He seemed so innocent too. The truth was he was a perverted, swearing and daring fool. But he was fun to be around and so entertaining, it was worth it to experience whatever he was doing. He was best friends with Tyrael.

“ Aw, hey, trackstar!” Tyrael hollered.`

Abraham smiled and sat a few seats from the back, in front of Tyrael’s and Daronte’s seat, and sat beside Daquan. Daronte and Tyrael sat on their knees to be apart of any further conversation. They were watching Daquan play Sonic the Hedgehog on the Game Gear they all shared, in which today was Daquan’s day to keep. 

“ Sup, Daquan.” Abraham greeted.

Daquan let out a mere grunt of acknowledgement as he focused hard on the small 8 bit screen. Abraham rolled his eyes and then the small screen went black as it lost power. 

Daquan tapped the buttons repeatedly and then finally sighed and relaxed. “ Hey, AK.” he greeted lately, turning his head. “Got 6 batteries on ya?”.

“ Nope.” he smiled. “ Tyrael?”

“ Hey!” Tyrael hissed in Abraham’s ear. “ Don't look now but…”

And immediately Abraham found himself looking around the bus, surveying faces. Then he locked eye contact with a girl sitting two seats ahead on the left of the bus.

Whoa…

His stomach sunk by her gaze and he blinked. She was a Hispanic girl, tawny skin, natural curls pulled in a ponytail and edges in swirls. She was wearing golden hoops. Her eyes were dark brown, pretty, warm, and soft. Or more like a mischievous look of a child. And her smile was pink and playful. 

How long were they looking at each other? No, time had stopped instantly. The cold and gray sky contradicted her pleasant features. But he had seen this girl before. Yeah, she was a part of the viola section in the Materialize program for youth orchestra students. Her name was Rosa. A perfect name for her.

Abraham smiled and Rosa’s light smile widened in amusement. She turned away to talk to another Hispanic girl that she was sitting beside.

His heart had lifted leaving a dopey smile on his face. And after thinking about it all throughout the day, he asked Rosa out at recess. She had smiled and told him no. It didn’t stop him from thinking about her constantly.


	2. Biggie Smalls

It was the middle of the night as the boys played in the streets under the streetlights, the white buzzing light illuminating their faces as they walked from the recreational park that was about a mile away from home. Their laughs and the occasional dribble of their basketball echoed into the darkness of the Oakland streets. It made their hearts race being out this late on a Friday night, especially Abraham who was still thinking of Rosa who happened to be at the park playing soccer with two girls. It had been 3 months since Abraham had asked her out and it was now December, California’s only partly chilly winter forcing them to wear their Starter jackets and dark hoodies.

The chill, the lateness of the night, the idea of Rosa, and daring each other to taunt the police who were riding by constantly was like a high on adrenaline. Their mothers were all ones to worry about staying out at night, gunshots firing, gang violence, and corrupt police harassing black teenage boys like themselves with the exception of them being 12.

It had to be like 11pm so why was a soft boy like Robert Smith out? He was a boy picked on because of his weight and how full his lips were who lived in The Projects. And he was running.

“ The hell?” Tyrael’s voice echoed and all of them stopped walking. Immediately a smile spread across his face. He was one of Robert’s bullies. “ Ay, Fat Albert!” he yelled towards the running Robert, and the boys chuckled. “ Why you running, man?” 

Robert didn’t stop running and acted as if he didn’t hear Tyrael. Tyrael nudged Abraham and jogged over to Robert, so the others followed. “ Albert, you know you heard me!” he yelled over to him, and poor Robert looked behind him and ran a little faster.

The boys caught up to him easily, with Daronte running ahead on his shorter legs. Daronte skipped backwards in front of Robert, making Robert slow down a little while breathing extremely hard. “ Big boy Biggie Smalls, I know you heard my man Tyrael. Don’t stress it, you may get an asthma attack.” Daronte teased, smiling harder as he made his friends laugh.

“ Ay, chill man.” Daquan warned with a smile on his face. Abraham knew that Daquan never liked bullying, anyway he’d be the one to never be bullied on physical appearance. Bullying made Abraham slightly uneasy as well, for he was bullied himself because of his too dark skin that appeared almost the shade of black at times. But in the heat of the moment, it was all fun and games.

Robert stopped to rest, wheezing. 

Damn, he probably does have asthma, Abraham thought with slight concern. And then as if proving it, Robert dug his hand in his pocket and he accidentally dropped his inhaler, which rolled on the ground. Daronte and Tyrael laughed and Abraham let out a huff of amusement, shaking his head. Daquan went into quiet mode instantly. Robert then grabbed for it but Tyrael put his foot on it.

Robert dropped to his bottom, resting against the curb of the street. “ Please,” he coughed.

Abraham stepped in “ Tyrael, come on, man.”  
Tyrael frowned and kicked the red plastic to Robert. “ Don’t run so fast.” he mumbled.

Robert inhaled the medicine and breathed. After a minute, Robert got back up and went straight back to running. The sad silence broke and the boys laughed, even Daquan smiled. They watched him run for a while.  
Tyrael turned to them, mischief written on his smile. “ I bet AK’s black ass that that fool ain’t running for fun-”

“ Ok, and I bet on that gap between yo two front teeth.” Abraham flashed back and they giggled.

“ We should follow him, see why Smalls running that hard.”

Daronte nodded and Abraham too. There had to be a reason for him to be running in a hurry at midnight. 

Daquan was uneasy. “ I dunno, man…”

“ Not to pick on him.” Daronte reassured. “ Besides, what if his lungs give out? You’d need four boys to drag him back home.”

And so they did. They put on their hoods and ran to where Robert had vanished, following the road as they hid behind trees lining the street. They followed for more than 25 minutes. They saw as Robert ran and stopped, walked, jogged, sat for half a minute, and ran. 

Suddenly, Robert crossed the street. They were maybe 3 miles from The Ghettos and The Projects and now you could see more races besides people of color. They were Uptown now, around the places like the barber shop Abraham went to or the Youth Orchestra Program Materialize that Rosa and Abraham attended. Robert disappeared in an alley.

“ Finally.” Abraham hissed, and gestured his boys to cross with him. They ran across the street when it was safe and slipped into the darkness of the alleyways. They kept their distance from Robert and held their breath whenever Robert stopped and looked around.   
Robert stopped at a door with a dim light that lit his face. Tyrael and Abraham hid behind a metal dumpster while Daronte and Daquan hid behind the corner a little farther behind. Robert knocked at the door.

“ Lorenzo! It’s me, Robert!” he shouted and the door flung open, a gun immediately pointed at him which made him drop cowardly to the ground with a hand out and he whimpered.

Tyrael cussed quietly in Abraham’s ear and Abraham had to cover his mouth as his heart raced but not like an adrenaline high. Fear tore at his stomach and he felt choked.

“ Who are you?” the voice of the man with the gun asked that the boys couldn’t see.

“ I’m- I’m here for Lorenzo.” Robert stuttered, his hand still out. “ I’m Renee’s boy.”

“ Boy, you look like you bout to piss your pants, get up.” The gun went down and Robert got up, tears on his face. Standing now, he was now passed a brown paper bag. “ Here.”

Robert hesitantly grabbed the bag. “ Wa- Wait. How do I know it’s, you know, real?”

“ Jesus, boy, I got shit to-” he sighed. “ What, do you wanna see it?” the man looked out the door to the right and then to the left. Tyrael and Abraham sunk closer behind the dumpster and didn’t get to see his face. 

They peeked back out to see a bag full of white material. And just the look of it made Abraham’s stomach twist with nausea. His body shook with fear as panic collapsed on his mind, telling him to get away as fast as possible. He heard Daronte and Daquan’s feet as they ran, their escape way easier. To his astonishment, Tyrael took off from the dumpster and ran. 

That dumbass! We’re dead! He thought as he ran a second later right after him. He ignored the drug dealer’s shouts as they ran out the series of alleyways and ignored the idea of a gun aimed for his back. 

Daquan and Daronte ran fast, they must have left the moment they saw the drugs. They were already across the street once Tyrael and him were out the alley and they ran across immediately regardless of honks of the cars. He ran for his life, it felt, with his friends, cutting across yards and jumping fences, dogs barking. No way was he looking back. They ran all the way home.  
When he got back, his mom was waiting for him sitting on the couch with a leather belt, looking absolutely furious. Tykera had her arms crossed standing and smiling. 

It was 2am.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> I welcome any critique in comments...but also compliments are appreciated!


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